Invasions are a common theme within games of any type. Maybe it's all there to prepare us for the eventual day that aliens from another world come to get us. Who knows. While I wait for that day though, I'm going to enjoy casual gems like Bugs Wars.

The idea is simple. You have to protect an innocent civilian from some rather adorable looking aliens. To do this, you shoot them by tapping your finger on them. A variety of weapons gradually become available from the humble plasma gun to the machine gun and even a nuclear weapon. The longer you play, the more varied the alien types get. Some require more shots to destroy than others and it's not long before things turn frantic. Each wave of each level gets stronger and larger means you have to move fast to strike your foes.

A series of achievements as well as online leaderboards give you some added impetus to do well. Plus the ability to buy new weapons depending on the points you earn in the previous level is a welcome addition that adds some variety. Various powerups appear too and you're rewarded for quickly defeating a number of aliens in a row. Every now and then, you have a boss to fight too which makes for a change of pace.

Ultimately though, Bugs Wars is there to help destress you when you could do with a relaxing, mindless shooter. The controls are pretty precise although when an achievement unlocks, the announcement can interfere with their accuracy.

The cheapskate in me would have preferred a 99c price tag rather than $1.99 but there's a lot of fun to be had here which makes it a worthy purchase.

iPhone Screenshots

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iPad Screenshots

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